A/N: AmyFanfiction207 Thank you! That's sweet of you to say J For what I currently have planned, there's still quite a bit of story to go.
Chapter 32 Launch Party
"Why are you inviting Ema to go to a launch party with you?" Azusa demanded over the phone. It had been a week since Azusa read the text Natsume had sent Ema. He'd been stewing and worrying over it ever since. Finally, he couldn't help himself and called his brother.
"Uh, hello to you to," Natsume grumbled. "Normally, Tsubaki is the one calling me and launching into conversations without a single greeting. What's got you so riled up?" He paused. "Does Ema seem uncomfortable that I asked her?"
Azusa ground his teeth together. The answer to that was a definite no. Ema hadn't been acting the slightest bit different during the past week, nor had she mentioned Natsume's invitation. At least, not to him she hadn't. Maybe she'd told some of his brothers about it. He hoped that since he hadn't heard a word, Ema had told Natsume no, but not knowing was driving him crazy. He couldn't ask Ema because he wasn't supposed to have seen the text, and because she wasn't really talking to him at the moment.
"No," Azusa admitted. "I just wanted to know why."
"Ema loves video games and she's really excited for this new one coming out. She helped test it for us while it was in development. I thought she might find it interesting to meet some of the people behind the creation of the game."
Azusa narrowed his eyes at his bedroom wall as he suddenly wished he was having this conversation with Natsume in person. He couldn't tell if Natsume was being sincere or if he was lying. Azusa's worry, of course, was that Natsume was developing feelings for Ema, but Natsume's excuse for inviting Ema sounded like a legitimate one. And Natsume wasn't one to pay much attention to the opposite sex. Of course, neither was Azusa, but what were the chances that all three of them would fall for the same girl? They might be triplets, but their tastes couldn't be that similar, could they?
"And that's all?" Azusa pressed. "You only invited her so she could meet people involved in making the game?"
There was silence on the other end, making Azusa's anxiety grow. Finally, Natsume asked, "What's this about, Azusa? Are you upset I asked Ema to come with me?"
It was Azusa's turn to be silent since he wasn't sure how to answer that question. He hadn't really thought through what his call to Natsume would entail other than finding out why Natsume had asked Ema to go and if she'd said yes.
"I just—" A memory from Ema's first day back in Japan popped into his head and he said, "Ema has made it very clear she has no interest in dating while she's attending high school. She's had some bad experiences with guys and wants to focus on school and living a normal life. I wasn't sure if you had heard and I just want to make sure everyone respects Ema's feelings." Azusa hadn't been present for that conversation, but Tsubaki had told him about it. Tsubaki had desperately wanted to know everything. When Ema first got a boyfriend, how long they'd dated for, what had happened. Azusa hadn't been overly interested in the details at the time, other than concern that Ema had been hurt, but now he cared.
This time, the silence felt surprised. "I hadn't heard anything about that. When did Ema get a boyfriend? What happened between them?"
"None of us know," Azusa said. Except, perhaps, Hikaru, but he certainly wouldn't tell anyone what he knew.
"Well, thanks for letting me know. I'll keep that in mind."
"Keep in mind how?" Azusa asked, irritation creeping into his voice. "Weren't you just saying you only asked Ema so she could meet the makers of the game?"
Natsume sighed. "I meant so that I didn't make the event seem like a date. Which it's not. Look, my manager demanded that everyone had to bring someone so we had a big crowd. They want to impress our American partners. I don't exactly have a lot of people on my social list to call, so I invited Ema. Though I do think she'd enjoy meeting the people who worked on the game, like I said."
"Oh." All of Azusa's irritation fled and he relaxed at Natsume's explanation. That scenario sounded entirely like Natsume. He was only bringing someone because he had to, not because he was interested in Ema. He was one of the least social, if not the least social of the Asahinas, so it was no surprise. "Well, all right then. I'm glad you know now. I'll talk to you later, then." He ended the call. Only at that point did he realize he hadn't found out if Ema had said yes or not.
~.~
Natsume stared at his phone after Azusa hung up. The call had been strange, to say the least. He wasn't sure Azusa's explanation of being worried about Ema quite made sense. Azusa hadn't sounded protective of Ema. He'd sounded jealous, which made Natsume wonder if there was anything going on at the Asahina house that he was missing living away from home. He didn't see his brothers interact with Ema much, but for the first time it occurred to him that some of his brothers might feel differently about Ema the woman than they had Ema the girl.
Not that that was his primary concern at the moment. He'd had no idea Ema had had a bad dating experience and wasn't interested in dating right now. He couldn't imagine how any guy could hurt Ema and whoever this ex was, he deserved to be punched.
As for his and Ema's relationship, it wasn't as though Natsume had planned to start dating her. He meant it when he said the launch party wasn't a date. He enjoyed spending time with Ema and thought she might enjoy the party. Yes, he'd recently been thinking Ema might be someone he could have feelings for, but that didn't mean anything had to change between them.
Maybe this was for the best. Natsume would go slow and see if feelings developed between them. If something was meant to happen between them, it would happen. If not, they would still be good friends.
Of course, it now sounded like there was the possible concern of some of his brothers having feelings for Ema, but he tried to push that worry out of his mind since there wasn't anything he could do about that at the moment.
~.~
"Thanks for doing my hair on such short notice," Ema said to Louis as she considered the final product in the mirror. He'd curled her hair before putting it into a French twist, leaving a few tendrils out to fall around her face. "I look so grown up!" Which was exactly what she'd requested and hoped for.
She'd told Louis how excited she was to go to the launch party of the video game with Natsume, but was worried it might look bad if Natsume's coworkers realized he'd invited a high school girl. She didn't want Natsume's reputation to be hurt when he was doing something nice for her, so she'd wanted to look older.
Her dress was a light pink spaghetti strap with an asymmetrical bottom and a silver jacket since it was cold outside. Natsume had told her the party was formal attire and Ema was grateful she had a few nice dresses she'd picked up from her travels. Dresses and skirts weren't exactly a high necessity for traveling around with her father and spending much of her time either outdoors or playing video games.
"You look perfect," Louis said, placing his hands on her shoulders as he also gazed at her in the mirror. "No one would guess you're only seventeen. And, you're welcome. I'm glad you asked me to help. I hope you know I'm always here for you."
"Of course," Ema said, smiling at Louis in the mirror. "And I hope you would tell me if you ever needed anything."
"Sure," Louis agreed, stepping back and letting his hands drop. "You'd better go. Natsume should be here any minute to pick you up."
"Right," Ema said, grabbing the small silver purse that matched her jacket. "I'll see you later!"
"Where are you going?" Ukyo asked when Ema walked past the kitchen, his eyes on her dress.
"I'm going to the video game launch party with Natsume tonight, remember? I told you I wouldn't be able to help you make dinner tonight."
"Well, yes, I remember that, but…why are you dressed like that?" Ukyo looked shocked and a little alarmed.
"Natsume said the party is formal attire," Ema said, looking down at her dress. "Do you not think this is fancy enough?" She had texted a picture of the dress to Miwa to get her opinion on it since she'd been afraid of choosing the wrong thing. This was her first party that required formal attire, after all. Miwa had told Ema she thought the dress was perfect.
"No, that's not it," Ukyo said. "I just hadn't realized you needed to get dressed up for this. I was surprised."
"You look like you're going on a date," Yusuke blurted out.
Ema laughed. "No way, you guys don't need to worry about that. I'm in Japan to go to school, not date, remember? Besides, you guys knew I was going with Natsume. The Asahina brothers are like family to me. I'll see you guys later!"
~.~
Ukyo went back to making dinner, cutting the meat a little more vigorously than he needed to. Why was it that his brothers with the stupid jobs got to be closer to Ema? Tsubaki and Azusa had had Ema to themselves night after night as voice actors. Thank goodness the anime had finally ended and Ema didn't seem to have any interest in continuing as a voice actor. And now Natsume, who developed games of all things, got to spend an entire evening with Ema looking like that. Ukyo wished he had a picture of Ema in her dress with her hair up.
Weren't women supposed to be attracted to doctors and lawyers? There were prestigious occupations, but all Ema seemed to care about were his brothers with the 'fun' jobs. Of course, she wasn't interested in them in a romantic way, Ukyo reminded himself. She was just interested in what they did.
Deflating, he remembered Ema's amused comment that the Asahina brothers were like family to her. She wasn't interested in any of them. What could he do to stand out?
~.~
"Why was Ema getting into a car with Natsume while in a dress?" Subaru demanded when he burst into the living room. "Are they dating?"
"Dude, chill," Yusuke said. "There's a launch party tonight for a game that Ema is excited about. She helped test the game out during production, so Natsume thought it might be fun for Ema to meet some of the people involved in making the game. It's not a date. At all. You know how those two are about video games."
"No, I don't know," Subaru said, crossing his arms. "What are you talking about?"
Yusuke blinked at Subaru, wondering why he was so upset. Then Yusuke realized that Subaru was usually at basketball practice when Ema was with Natsume. "They play video games together all the time. Well, a little less since Ema was doing her voice acting job, but they'll probably pick that up again now that she's done. Natsume brings her demos from his company all the time. Didn't you know how close those two are? Natsume's one of the ones Ema emailed when she lived abroad."
Of course, she emailed almost all the brothers. There had only been three she hadn't. Yusuke, who'd been too stupid and embarrassed to email her while she'd been gone, and Subaru and Fuuto, who hadn't wanted to email her. Yusuke was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice the sick look that passed over Subaru's face.
~.~
"This place is really nice," Ema said, looking around the room.
"Yeah, they went all out for this party," Natsume agreed. "This isn't the norm, but the company really wanted to impress our American partners. And they're really excited for the launch of this game. It's expected to do well in Japan and the United States."
"I'm excited too!" Ema said, her eyes brightening. "It's been so much fun to talk to some of the developers of the game tonight. Thanks for bringing me, Natsume."
"Of course. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I was a little worried you might be bored."
"Not at all," Ema said, shaking her head. "You know, when I came back to Japan for school, even though I was excited, I wondered if it would be a little monotonous doing the same thing every day since I'm used to so much variety, but I've experienced a lot of new things since coming back. I'm so grateful I'm here."
"Me too," Natsume agreed, smiling. "Life is more fun with you around."
"What's this? Natsume smiling? I wasn't sure he did that."
Natsume nearly flinched at the sound of Sakura's voice.
He turned to see Sakura, Shin, and one other person. Miako. Great.
"I guess Natsume's willing to show a side of himself to old friends that he doesn't show to coworkers," Sakura said with a mock sigh. "All we get is his serious side."
"Hi, Natsume," Miako said, looking far too excited to Natsume's eyes. "It's been a while."
"Uh, yeah," he agreed, not sure what else to say. "Ema, this is Sakura and Shin who work with me, and Miako, who's a friend of Sakura's. Guys, this is my friend Ema. Shin, what happened to your date? I thought you said you were bringing that girl you went on a date with a little while ago."
"She got sick unexpectedly," Shin said, shrugging. "So now I'm reduced to trailing behind Sakura and Miako."
"How long have you known Natsume for, Ema?" Sakura asked. Natsume had a bad feeling Sakura was trying to get out information on him from Ema, though information on what he didn't know.
"Um, about ten years, I think," Ema answered. "Maybe eleven."
"That's a long time," Sakura said. "So, you must have met Natsume's past girlfriends since you've been friends for so long. What kind of girls does he like?"
Natsume fought off the urge to groan and cover his face. He'd been right. Sakura was fishing for information. And he hadn't missed the nudge Sakura had given Miako. Sakura wanted to find out for Miako's sake. Couldn't they just accept the fact that if Natsume was interested, he would have done someone about it?
"Uhh…" Ema threw Natsume an awkward look. "Mine and Natsume's friendship is largely based around video games. We don't talk a lot about other topics."
"Ema is the friend I give demos to," Natsume explained.
"Ah, so you're our mysterious tester!" Shin said, his eyes lighting up. He held his hand out for Ema to shake. "It's nice to meet you. You've given us a lot of good feedback and found some glitches we totally missed that would not have made our customers happy. Thanks for that! I feel like we should pay you for all the help you give us."
"No problem," Ema said. "And I'm happy to do it. Getting a sneak peek on games is more than enough payment enough for me."
"Aren't playing video games more of a guy thing?" Miako asked, wrinkling her nose.
"That's sexist!" Shin declared. "Don't you know how many girls are gamers these days? This world is an equal opportunity place, you know. And we've put a lot of work into creating games that appeal to the male and female demographic. It's practically sacrilege to say something like that at a party like this."
"Whatever," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "Can we please get back to the topic at hand? Natsume—"
"Actually, Shin just reminded me there's something important I need to talk to Ema about. Excuse us." Without waiting for a response, Natsume took Ema's arm and hurried away.
"Sorry about that," he said when they were out of earshot. "My coworkers are a little…interesting."
"Yes, that was…unexpected," Ema said. "Is your coworker interested in you?"
"No," Natsume said, shaking his head and grateful at least for that much. Having a coworker you weren't interested in like you would be difficult. "It's her friend, Miako. We've met a couple times and both of them keep hinting that I should ask her out. Since I'm not a blind idiot and haven't asked her out, I would think it should be clear that I'm not interested and don't want to ask her out."
"Oo." Ema winced in sympathy. "That can be tough. The production company my dad works for has had to fire a few women through the years when they don't get the message that my dad only wants to be friends. You could use me as an excuse if you wanted to."
"Thanks," Natsume said, surprised at the offer. He was glad he'd spoken to Azusa and knew he shouldn't read anything into it. If he hadn't known that Ema didn't want to date, he might have wondered if there was a deeper meaning to her statement. "But I already told them you and I were just friends."
Ema shrugged helplessly. "Well, at least I could act as an excuse to get you away for a little bit."
"Actually, it wasn't one hundred percent an excuse. Shin really did remind me of something I wanted to talk to you about. Do you remember that when I invited you I told you there was something I wanted to ask you?"
Ema nodded.
"Well, the company is hoping to move forward with the zombie hunter game with a female lead. The VP wants to hear possible voices before deciding for sure. I wanted to ask you if you would come in for a reading."
